Whole Foods - Fullerton & Sheffield

Weird. I can't find a general Whole Foods thread in "Shopping & Cooking." (There is one in "Other Culinary Chat.")

Anyway, has anyone been to the one that opened last week at Fullerton and Sheffield? Impressions?

959 W Fullerton Ave
Chicago, IL 60614

I popped in over the weekend to grab a couple of things. Think of it as a Whole Foods Express -- obviously (if you had been to the old Dominick's there) on the smaller end and the inventory is accordingly more limited (all of the major categories are covered, but less diversity within the categories). All of the checkouts are of the type seen at Eataly or at the express lanes in the Kingsbury Whole Foods, and the place is really not set up for doing a big grocery shop. There is no fully-display butcher counter -- just a small fish counter/display with a couple of meat dept. folks behind it -- most of the meats are prepackaged, but you can ask and they will get you whatever you want/need if they have it, you just do not have the ability to see what's on offer and see if something piques your interest.

In general, I think they are (rightly) catering to the DePaul/commuter crowd. About half of the first floor (it is a two-story set-up) is taken up with hot bar, salad bar, prepared foods, pizza and sandwich station, coffee bar. Probably a good place to grab something for lunch on morning commute before hitting the Brown Line and a good place to market shop for a particular meal in the evening. The coffee bar has a walk-up window that is open starting at 6:00 a.m. (store does not open until 8:00 a.m.), which should be good for early-morning commuters. Glad to have it in the neighborhood as a place to run in periodically to grab this or that, but size, layout, inventory, etc. may frustrate those who are used to the bigger Whole Foods stores and I would not go in assuming, for example, that they are going to have a particular type of chili pepper that you have seen at other Whole Foods.

Fantastic report. Thanks, Matt.

The Whole Foods in Elmhurst is supposed to open May 27.

Whole Foods is closing one of its stores at the corner of Fullerton and Sheffield effective May 13. According to a sign posted in the store window, Amazon's Whole Foods is redirecting customers to other locations in Lakeview and Lincoln Park. Grocery stores nationwide have seen record buying and traffic with millions quarantined since mid-March from the COVID-19 outbreak. The outlet at Fullerton and Sheffield will service online orders only after the closure.

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/retail/ ... ds-shutter

The outlet at Fullerton and Sheffield will service online orders only after the closure.(dave148)

I wonder if Amazon is going to turn this location into one of those Amazon stores that people walk in, shop, and exit without physically paying; the items are deducted from I believe an app tied into an amazon account.

Hard to run this store if no students, faculty, staff are at DePaul daily. But presumably it could reopen as normal in the distant future.